Obama nears record-breaking USD 1 bn donation

In a major boost to his re-election bid, US President Barack Obama raised a whopping USD 181 million taking the total amount in his kitty to nearly USD 947 million so far, nearing the record- breaking billion-dollar mark in the run-up to the polls.

With a month to go for the 6 November Presidential polls, the Obama Campaign is expected to cross the magic figure of USD one billion in this election cycle.

This would be for the first time that any candidate would raise more than a billion dollars in an election cycle.

‘More on what it means that 1,825,813 people raised USD 181 million for the campaign and combined committees in September,’ Obama announced on the social networking site Twitter, where he has more than 20.5 million followers.

‘We not only surpassed 10 million donations so far in 2012 to the campaign and the Democratic Party – a historic record for grassroots politics. We also raised USD 181 million in September from 1.8 million Americans – more than 5, 67,000 of whom gave for the first time. That’s by far our biggest month yet,’ Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to his supporters.

The average donation was USD 53, and 98 per cent of the contributions were USD 250 or less.

In August, the Obama Campaign had raised USD 141 million.

The Romney campaign has not announced its numbers for September. However, the Romney campaign spokesperson, Andrea Saul, announced on Twitter that after the successful Denver debate it raised more than USD 12 million in less than 48 hours.

‘Post #debate @MittRomney raised more than 12 million in less than 48 hours. Night of, more than 2 donations/second,’ she said.

Romney, meanwhile tweeted, asking his supporters to donate. ‘A clear choice. America can’t afford another four years like the last. Donate 15 now.’

Away from the public glare, prominent Indian Americans supporting Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney are believed to have raised between USD 15-20 million for his presidential campaign.

While Romney campaign has not released any fundraising statistics from ethnic coalitions nor has it made public the list of its bundlers or exclusive Stars and Stripes members, the list of big donors include over 200 prominent Indian Americans.

The ‘Indian American Coalition’ was established in November 2011 by the Romney Campaign National Finance Committee Chairman Spencer Zwick to recognise not only the individual donor, but also the larger community under a group identity.